Exact weight meat cutting device

ABSTRACT

An exact weight meat cutting device includes a frame, a lower conveyor belt and an adjustably mounted upper conveyor belt extending generally parallel with and spaced from the lower conveyor belt. A scale reads the weight of the meat product and optical sensors read the width and length of the meat product as it passes through and the height of the meat product is determined by the vertical spacing of the upper and lower conveyor belts. A computer calculates the dimensions of the exact weight piece of meat product that should be cut from the remainder of the meat product by using the size and weight measurements, and the position-adjustable blade of the slicing device, which is interposed between the upper and lower conveyor belts, is positioned by the computer to cut and separate the exact weight piece from the remainder piece of the meat product.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PROVISIONAL PATENT

This application claims priority based on a provisional patent,specifically on the Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/647,147filed Jan. 26, 2005.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to meat weighing and cutting devices and,more particularly, to an exact weight meat cutting device which includesa frame, a main and an upper pressing conveyor belts to compress themeat product therebetween, a weight measurement device such as a scalepositioned adjacent and immediately below the forward end of the mainconveyor belt to weigh meat product placed on the main conveyor belt, atleast two laser displacement sensors mounted on opposite sides of themain conveyor belt for measuring the width and length of the meatproduct, a programable computer system connected to the laserdisplacement sensors and scale operative to form a three-dimensionalimage of the meat product and determine the precise cutting location onthe meat product to obtain a slice of predetermined weight and a cuttingdevice vertically adjustably mounted on the frame intermediate the mainand upper pressing conveyor belts for cutting the meat product as themeat product passes through the device.

2. Description of the Prior Art

The meat packing industry has numerous types of slicing and cuttingdevices each designed to perform a specific function such as cutting aparticular type of meat product or removing or separating one type ofmeat product from another during processing of the carcass. The vastmajority of these devices, however, do not include any mechanism bywhich the size of the resulting meat product may be determined, andparticularly do not include any mechanism by which the weight of theresulting meat product may be predetermined and set by the operator ofthe machine to produce a series of meat product slices from successivemeat products which have generally identical weights. Some devices havebeen proposed in the prior art which attempt to address and solve thisparticular problem, including Akesson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,951,Helsene et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,029, and Newman, U.S. Pat. No.5,668,634. Each of the cited prior art devices, however, includeinherent deficiencies which do not completely eliminate the difficultiesencountered by one attempting to process and create a meat productsection having an exact weight. Furthermore, to a large extent, theseprior art devices remain labor-intensive, and as the intention of suchdevices should be to decrease the amount of labor needed to produce themeat product, these devices are deficient in this aspect. There istherefore a need for an exact weight meat cutting device which is safeand economical in operation and produces quality exact weight cuts ofmeat in a rapid and efficient manner.

It should also be noted that many of the devices found in the prior artwhich ostensibly teach towards exact weight meat cutting devices requiresubstantial pre-processing of the meat product in order to ensure thatthe meat product is of uniform size, shape, and weight before being cutinto selected weight amounts. It is clear that such an amount ofpre-processing merely switches the labor from after the use of thedevice to before the use of the device, and thus presents little, ifany, reduction in the amount of labor and time needed to produce anexact weight meat product. There is therefore a need for an exact weightmeat cutting device which is capable of accepting cuts of meat whichhave differing sizes, shapes, and weights, and processing each of themregardless of the starting values to produce a finished exact weightmeat product.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an exactweight meat cutting device which will automatically accept and process ameat product to produce an exact weight finished meat cut.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an exact weightmeat cutting device which includes a frame, upper and lower conveyorbelts cooperating to secure and move the meat product forwardtherebetween, a scale for weighing the meat product, measurement devicesfor measuring the width of the meat product, a measurement device forthe height of the meat product, a computing device operative to computethe volume of the meat product, and an adjustment device for adjustingthe height of the cutting blade relative to the meat product to producea cut of meat having an exact weight predetermined by the user of theinvention.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an exact weightmeat cutting device which does not require significant pre-processing ofthe meat product prior to use of the device, specifically regarding theheight, width, and length dimensions and weight of the meat product, aseach of these factors are taken into account by the exact weight meatcutting device of the present invention.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an exact weightmeat cutting device which includes a separator plate extending rearwardsof the end of the lower conveyor belt to keep the upper and lower slicesseparated for further processing of those sections.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an exact weightmeat cutting device which includes an easily programmable computingdevice which will produce specific cuts of meat having exact weights asdetermined by a user of the present invention.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an exact weightmeat cutting device which does not require highly specialized skills ortraining in order to operate the device properly.

Finally, an object of the present invention is to provide an exactweight meat cutting device which is relatively simple and durable indesign and operation and is safe, effective, and efficient in use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides an exact weight meat cutting deviceincluding a frame, a lower conveyor belt mounted on the frame and havinga forward end and a rearward end and an upper conveyor beltheight-adjustably mounted on the frame and extending generally parallelwith and spaced above the lower conveyor belt. A weighing device such asa scale is mounted on the frame adjacent the forward end of the lowerconveyor belt operative to weigh meat product placed on the lowerconveyor belt and at least two displacement sensors are mounted on theframe on opposite sides of the lower conveyor belt, each of the at leasttwo displacement sensors operative to incrementally read the distancebetween each of the at least two displacement sensors and an adjacentside of a meat product when the meat product on the lower conveyor beltpasses between the at least two displacement sensors. The lower conveyorbelt and the upper conveyor belt cooperate to transport the meat productthrough the exact weight meat cutting device towards the rearward end ofthe lower conveyor belt. A computing device is in informationtransmission connection with the weighing means and the at least twodisplacement sensors, the computing device operative to receive theweight of the meat product, the height between the upper and lowerconveyor belts and the incremental distance readings from the at leasttwo displacement sensors and compute the volume of the meat product viacalculation of width times length times height for each incrementalsection of the meat product. The computing device is further operativeto determine the amount of meat product which will be cut from the meatproduct to produce a remainder piece and an exact weight piece, theexact weight piece of the meat product having a selected weight asdesired by a user of the exact weight meat cutting device. A meatproduct slicing device is positioned intermediate the forward andrearward ends of the lower conveyor belt, the meat product slicing meansincluding position-adjustable blade means, the position-adjustable blademeans interposed between the upper conveyor belt and the lower conveyorbelt and operative to separate the exact weight piece from the remainderpiece of the meat product. The computing device is also operativelyconnected to the meat product slicing means to adjust the positioning ofthe position-adjustable blade means between the upper conveyor belt andthe lower conveyor belt to separate the exact weight piece from theremainder piece of the meat product as determined by the computingmeans. Finally, the lower conveyor belt and the upper conveyor beltfurther cooperate to transport the meat product through the exact weightmeat cutting device into contact with and past the adjustable blademeans towards the rearward end of the lower conveyor belt whereby themeat product is sliced into the exact weight piece and the remainderpiece.

The present invention addresses and corrects many of the disadvantagesfound in the prior art. For example, the use of the exact weight meatcutting device will greatly reduce waste and inefficiency in theproduction of meat products as exact weight slices of meat canimmediately taken from the device and wrapped for distribution to theconsumer without requiring further processing. Furthermore, because thefinal weight of the exact weight meat product may be easily changed byuse of the computing device, it is a simple matter to produce manydifferent weights of meat cuts depending on the desires of the endconsumer. Also, as the present invention is designed for use with manydifferent meat product types, including meat, chicken, pork, fish, etc.,it can be used in many different packing plants in many differentsituations. Finally, as the exact weight meat cutting device of thepresent invention performs the measurement, separation, and removal ofthe exact weight slice in one device via one continuous operation, theprocessing of the meat product to produce the exact weight slice isperformed without slowing or impeding the processing line. It istherefore seen that the present invention provides a substantialimprovement over those devices found in the prior art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the exact weight meat cutting device ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a detailed top plan view of the present invention showing ameat product being measured for width and length to create the threedimensional image of the meat product within the computing device;

FIG. 3 is a detailed end elevational view of the present inventionshowing the meat product immediately prior to cutting;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the present invention showing thelocation of the various elements therein; and

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 are respectively, perspective, side and sideelevational views of an alternative embodiment of the present inventionshowing the top slice and bottom piece of the meat product beingtransferred for further processing.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The exact weight meat cutting device 10 of the present invention isshown best in FIGS. 1-6 as including a frame 12 on which the device 10rests, a main conveyor belt 14 extending generally horizontally on theframe 12 and an upper pressing conveyor belt 16 adjustably mounted aboveand extending generally parallel with the main conveyor belt 14. In thepreferred embodiment, the main and upper pressing conveyor belts 14 and16 would have lengths of approximately three feet to seven feet, withthe main conveyor belt 14 extending forwards of the upper pressingconveyor belt 16 to facilitate the placement of meat product thereon. Infact, main conveyor belt 14 would extend a substantial distance in frontof upper pressing conveyor belt 16, as it is the forward end 18 of mainconveyor belt 14 on which the initial weighing of the meat product 100will take place.

In the preferred embodiment, the main conveyor belt 14 would be avariable speed conveyor and would further include a weight measurementdevice 50 such as an electronic scale mounted adjacent the forward endof main conveyor belt 14 directly underneath the main conveyor belt 14to weigh meat product 100 placed on the main conveyor belt 14. Anoptical incremental encoding device 52 also is positioned at the forwardend 18 of main conveyor belt 14 which works in conjunction with theweighing device 50 to identify the particular piece of meat product 100which has been placed on the main conveyor belt 14 and track it as itpasses through the exact weight meat cutting device 10 of the presentinvention. The proper tracking of each meat product 100 passing throughthe exact weight meat cutting device 10 of the present invention isimportant to ensure that the cutting of the meat product 100 isperformed in a manner befitting the particular meat product 100 passingthrough the device, specifically that each meat product 100 has its ownunique cutting location to produce the finished meat product, thereforethe exact weight meat cutting device 10 of the present invention must beaware of which particular meat product 100 on main conveyor belt 14 isabout to be cut. The optical incremental encoding device 52 providesthis information to the computing device 80 which is mounted on frame 12adjacent the main conveyor belt 14, as shown best in FIG. 1.

Once the weight of the meat product 100 has been determined by weighingdevice 50, and that information has been transferred to the computingdevice 80, the meat product 100 is moved into the exact weight meatcutting device 10 via main conveyor belt 14, as shown best in FIGS. 2and 3. At this point, the meat product 100 is compressed between themain conveyor belt 14 and upper pressing conveyor belt 16. Thecompression of the meat product 100 between the main conveyor belt 14and upper pressing conveyor belt 16 serves two purposes, the first beingto compress and secure the meat product 100 prior to cutting thereof toprevent slippage or twisting of the meat product 100 during the cuttingprocess. Second, the exact height of the meat product 100 can now bedetermined as the distance between the main conveyor belt 14 and upperpressing conveyor belt 16 is known. This height is sent to the computingdevice 80 for further computation and the meat product 100 is movedforwards between the main conveyor belt 14 and upper pressing conveyorbelt 16.

Mounted on opposite sides of the main conveyor belt 14 are a pair oflaser displacement sensors 54 a and 54 b which point across the mainconveyor belt 14 perpendicular to the main conveyor belt 14. Each ofthese laser displacement sensors 54 a and 54 b are operative to return adistance reading when it encounters a solid object passing in front ofthe laser, similar in operation to laser range-finding devices withmodifications for accuracy and distance for use with the presentinvention. When no meat product is passing through the exact weight meatcutting device 10, each laser displacement sensor 54 a and 54 b readsthe distance from one side of the main conveyor belt 14 to the other.However, as a meat product 100 is moved into the exact weight meatcutting device 10 of the present invention, each of the laserdisplacement sensors 54 a and 54 b identify the leading edge of the meatproduct 100 as it passes between the laser displacement sensors 54 a and54 b, thus identifying the beginning section of the meat product 100 andsimultaneously beginning to read the distance from the adjacent side ofthe meat product 100 to the particular laser displacement sensors 54 aand 54 b positioned on opposite sides of the main conveyor belt 14. Thelaser displacement sensors 54 a and 54 b then signal the computingdevice 80 to tell the computing device 80 that the meat product 100 ispassing in front of the laser displacement sensors 54 a and 54 b, andthe computing device 80 thus begins to measure the length of the meatproduct 100 which may be determined either by the length of time themeat product 100 passes in front of the laser displacement sensors 54 aand 54 b multiplied by the speed of the main conveyor belt 14 to derivethe length of the meat product 100 or by measuring the number ofmeasurements taken by each of the laser displacement sensors 54 a and 54b as will be described immediately hereafter. The laser displacementsensors 54 as and 54 b take measurements at approximately one millimeterintervals which determine the width of the meat product 100, thusforming a three-dimensional representation of the shape of the meatproduct 100 and also producing a length measurement for the meat product100. This process continues until the rear end of the meat product 100passes the laser displacement sensors 54 a and 54 b which then signalthe computing device 80 that the end of the meat product 100 has beenreached. The computing device 80 then computes the width, length, andheight of the meat product 100, thus permitting the volume of the meatproduct 100 to be derived through a simple calculation of width timeslength times height for each one millimeter section, then adding thevolumes together to obtain the total volume of the meat product 100. Itis important to note that the vast majority of meat products 100 passingthrough the exact weight meat cutting device 10 of the present inventionwill not have regular widths due to the inherent differences betweenvarious types of meat products. However, the approximation produced bymeasurements of the width of the meat product 100 approximately everymillimeter along the length of the meat product 100 results in a fairlyspecific three-dimensional representation of the height, width, andlength of the meat product being produced, which may be used by thecomputing device 80 to produce an accurate value for the volume of themeat product 100.

Once the measurements for the meat product 100 have been input into thecomputing device 80, the computing device 80 via its softwareprogramming calculates the volume of the meat product 100 and determinesthe amount of meat product 100 which will be cut from the top of themeat product 100 to produce a top slice 102 and a bottom piece 104, thebottom piece 104 of the meat product having the exact weightpredetermined by the exact weight meat cutting device 10 as desired bythe operator of the present invention. Once the computing device 80 hascalculated the amount which must be removed from the meat product 100 toproduce the exact weight bottom piece 104, that information istransferred to the cutting blade assembly 20, in particular to a servomotor 21 which adjusts the height of the cutting blade assembly 20 orthe cutting blade 22 itself between the main conveyor belt 14 and upperpressing conveyor belt 16, as shown best in FIG. 3. The exact height ofthe cutting blade 22 of cutting blade assembly 20 is thus set byengagement of the servo motor 21 as determined by the computing device80 and as meat product 100 approaches the cutting blade 22, the cuttingblade engages the meat product 100 to divide the meat product into thetop slice 102 and bottom piece 104, as shown best in FIGS. 3 and 4. Inthe preferred embodiment, the cutting blade assembly 20 would be abandsaw device, although the exact type of cutting device used inconnection with the present invention is not critical so long as theheight of the device is adjustable and the meat product 100 is cleanlyand efficiently cut.

An important feature of the present invention is that each meat product100 which is fed through the exact weight meat cutting device 10 isseparately weighed and measured to produce the correct cutting locationfor each meat product 100. Moreover, this is done automatically once themeat product 100 is placed on the main conveyor belt 14 by measurementsvia the weighing device 50 and the laser displacement sensors 54 a and54 b, and thus processing of a great number of separate meat products100 may proceed quickly and efficiently without needing to readjust orrecalibrate the present invention for each and every meat product beingfed through the device.

It should be noted that the length of the meat product 100, althoughdeterminable by the length of time needed for the meat product 100 topass by the laser displacement sensors 54 a and 54 b, as describedpreviously, may also be determined by merely adding the number ofmeasurements taken as the meat product passes by the laser displacementsensors 54 a and 54 b, as each measurement is taken approximately onemillimeter apart. By adding the number of measurements, the exact lengthof the meat product 100 may be determined. In fact, there are severaldifferent ways by which the length and width of the meat product 100 maybe determined by use of the laser displacement sensors 54 a and 54 b,each of which should be understood to be a part of this disclosure and apart of this invention. However, that being said, it has been found thatthe above-described process of measuring the length and width of themeat product 100 provides a simple, straightforward method by which thelength and width of the meat product 100 may be obtained, and thereforeits use with the present invention is preferred.

Once the meat product 100 has been cut by the cutting blade 22, thesectioned top slice 102 and exact weight bottom piece 104 are availablefor further processing as determined by the user of the presentinvention. It is expected that the bottom piece 104, being of the exactweight predetermined by the operator of the present invention, will begenerally ready for packaging and sale, whereas the top slice 102 willundergo further processing, although it will be up to each user of thepresent invention as to the disposition of the sectioned top slice 102and exact weight bottom piece 104, and such final use of these is beyondthe purview of this disclosure.

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 show an alternative embodiment of the exact weight meatcutting device 10′ of the present invention which includes additionalbelts and mechanisms mounted on the frame 12′ for transferring the topslice 102 and bottom piece 104 for further processing, and is includedto disclose one type of device with which the present invention may beused. In the embodiment of FIG. 5, mounted adjacent to and immediatelybehind the cutting blade 22′ is a separator plate 24 which, in thepreferred embodiment, would consist of a generally thin planar piece ofhigh impact plastic such as UHMW or of metal such as stainless steel orthe like, which has a generally low coefficient of friction to preventsticking of the meat product 100, particularly top slice 102 and bottompiece 104, thereto. The separator plate 24 is generally verticallyaligned with and vertically movable with the cutting blade 22′ such thatvertical adjustment of the cutting blade 22′ by servo motor 21′ betweenmain conveyor belt 14′ and upper pressing conveyor belt 16′ results invertical adjustment of the separator plate 24 which is mounted directlybehind and spaced only a few thousandths of an inch behind the cuttingblade 22′. As the meat product 100 is transported between the mainconveyor belt 14′ and upper pressing conveyor belt 16′, the cuttingblade 22′ divides the top slice 102 from the bottom piece 104 of meatproduct 100, with the top slice 102 then being disengaged from the meatproduct 100 by the separator plate 24.

As the meat product 100 with the separated top slice 102 reaches the endof main conveyor belt 14′, the separator plate 24, which extendsrearwards from the cutting blade 20′ to generally adjacent the rear endof upper conveyor belt 16′, separates the top slice 102 and bottom piece104 of meat product 100 with the upper pressing conveyor belt 16′engaging and moving top slice 102 forwards within the exact weight meatcutting device 10′ and the main conveyor belt 14′ engaging and movingthe bottom piece 104 forwards within the exact weight meat cuttingdevice 101. In the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 5, main conveyorbelt 14′ ends forwards of the end of upper pressing conveyor belt 16′and the bottom piece 104 thus reaches the end of main conveyor belt 14′prior to top slice 102 reaching the end of upper pressing conveyor belt16′ and separator plate 24. The bottom piece 104 then falls off of themain conveyor belt 14′ onto a rear conveyor belt 36 which extendsrearwards from the main conveyor belt 14′ and is positioned below mainconveyor belt 14′ as shown in FIG. 6.

The positioning of the rear conveyor belt 36 is important in that themovement of the bottom piece 104 downwards provides space for thepositioning of top slice conveyor belt 30, which is positioned rearwardsof main conveyor belt 14′ with a forward portion thereof directlyunderneath the rearward end of the separator plate 24. As the forwardportion of the top slice 102 reaches the end of separator plate 24, asshown in FIG. 7, it falls downwards and lands on top slice removalconveyor belt 30. In the preferred embodiment, the top slice removalconveyor belt 30 would be approximately two to ten feet in length andwould extend off to one side of the upper pressing conveyor belt 16′ inorder to quickly and simply remove the top slice 102 to a differentlocation for further processing thereof. Of course, the preciselocation, direction of travel and design of the top slice conveyor belt30 is not critical to the present invention so long as the forward endof the top slice conveyor belt 30 is positioned beneath the end of theseparator plate 24, and the top slice conveyor belt 30 may be modifiedor changed depending upon the intended top slice transfercharacteristics desired in connection with the top slice conveyor belt30. Once the top slice 102 has been removed from the exact weight meatcutting device 10′ via the top slice conveyor belt 30, the exact weightbottom piece 104, still on rear conveyor belt 36, is available forcontinued processing.

It is to be understood that numerous additions, substitutions, andmodifications may be made to the exact weight meat cutting device 10 ofthe present invention which fall within the intended broad scope of theabove description. For example, the size, shape, and constructionmaterials used in connection with the exact weight meat cutting device10 may be modified or changed so long as the intended functionality ofthe various elements is maintained. Furthermore, the programming ofcomputing device 80 may be modified or changed so long as the intendedfunctional features of obtaining the height, length, and width of themeat product 100 are maintained, the computing device 80 then operativeto produce a volume measurement for the meat product 100 and determinethe precise cutting location on the meat product 100 at which cuttingblade 22 is to be applied to produce the predetermined bottom piece 104weight. Finally, it should be noted that the exact type and positioningof laser displacement sensors 54 a and 54 b is critical to the presentinvention only in that each of the laser displacement sensors 54 a and54 b must be capable of determining the exact distance between itselfand a solid object passing in front of the laser displacement sensors 54a and 54 b and permitting sufficient time for the computing device 80 tocalculate the correct cutting location and move the cutting bladeassembly 20 to the proper height for cutting blade 22 via server motor21.

There has therefore been shown and described an exact weight meatcutting device 10 which accomplishes at least all of its intendedobjectives.

1. An exact weight meat cutting device comprising: a frame; a lowerconveyor belt mounted on said frame and having a forward end and arearward end; an upper conveyor belt height-adjustably mounted on saidframe and extending generally parallel with and spaced above said lowerconveyor belt; weighing means mounted on said frame adjacent saidforward end of said lower conveyor belt operative to weigh meat productplaced on said lower conveyor belt; at least two displacement sensorsmounted on said frame on opposite sides of said lower conveyor belt,each of said at least two displacement sensors operative to read thelength of the meat product from front to back and incrementally read thedistance between each of said at least two displacement sensors and anadjacent side of a meat product when the meat product on said lowerconveyor belt passes between said at least two displacement sensors;said lower conveyor belt and said upper conveyor belt cooperating totransport the meat product through said exact weight meat cutting devicetowards said rearward end of said lower conveyor belt; computing meansin information transmission connection with said weighing means and saidat least two displacement sensors, said computing means operative toreceive the weight of the meat product, the height between said upperand lower conveyor belts and the incremental distance readings from saidat least two displacement sensors and compute the volume of the meatproduct via calculation of width times length times height for eachincremental section of the meat product; said computing means furtheroperative to determine the amount of meat product which will be cut fromthe meat product to produce a remainder piece and an exact weight piece,the exact weight piece of the meat product having a selected weight aspredetermined by a user of said exact weight meat cutting device; meatproduct slicing means intermediate said forward and rearward ends ofsaid lower conveyor belt, said meat product slicing means includingposition-adjustable blade means, said position-adjustable blade meansinterposed between said upper conveyor belt and said lower conveyor beltand operative to separate the exact weight piece from the remainderpiece of the meat product; said computing means operatively connected tosaid meat product slicing means to adjust the positioning of saidposition-adjustable blade means between said upper conveyor belt andsaid lower conveyor belt to separate the exact weight piece from theremainder piece of the meat product as determined by said computingmeans; and said lower conveyor belt and said upper conveyor belt furthercooperating to transport the meat product through said exact weight meatcutting device into contact with and past said adjustable blade meanstowards said rearward end of said lower conveyor belt whereby the meatproduct is sliced into the exact weight piece and the remainder piece.2. The exact weight meat cutting device of claim 1 further comprising arear conveyor belt means mounted rearwards of said lower conveyor beltand generally adjacent thereto such that upon the remainder piece of themeat product being disengaged from said lower conveyor belt, said rearconveyor belt is operative to engage and transport the remainder pieceof the meat product to another location.
 3. The exact weight meatcutting device of claim 1 wherein said meat product slicing meanscomprises a bandsaw and said blade means comprises a bandsaw blade. 4.The exact weight meat cutting device of claim 1 wherein said weighingmeans comprises a scale mounted directly underneath said lower conveyorbelt.
 5. The exact weight meat cutting device of claim 1 wherein said atleast two displacement sensors each comprise laser displacement sensorsoperative to identify the leading edge of the meat product as it passesbetween said laser displacement sensors, incrementally read the distancefrom an adjacent side of the meat product to the adjacent one of saidlaser displacement sensors and positioned on opposite sides of the mainconveyor belt and identify the trailing edge of the meat product as itpasses between said laser displacement sensors whereby the length of themeat product can be calculated.
 6. The exact weight meat cutting deviceof claim 1 wherein said computing means comprises a computer havingprogrammed software operative to compute the volume of meat product tobe cut to produce a remainder piece and an exact weight piece, the exactweight piece of the meat product having a selected weight aspredetermined by a user of said exact weight meat cutting device and thepositioning of the adjustable blade means to obtain the cut.
 7. Theexact weight meat cutting device of claim 1 further comprising a sliceseparator plate adjustably mounted on said frame interposed between saidupper conveyor belt and said lower conveyor belt and positionedgenerally rearwardly adjacent and generally vertically movably alignedwith said blade means, said top slice separator plate extendingrearwards to maintain separation of the exact weight piece and theremainder piece of the meat product.
 8. The exact weight meat cuttingdevice of claim 7 wherein said slice separator plate comprises agenerally thin planar sheet of substantially low friction material. 9.The exact weight meat cutting device of claim 8 wherein said sliceseparator plate is positioned rearwards of said blade means betweenone-thousandth and one half (0.001 and 0.5) inches.
 10. An exact weightmeat cutting device comprising: a frame; a lower conveyor belt mountedon said frame and having a forward end and a rearward end; an upperconveyor belt height-adjustably mounted on said frame and extendinggenerally parallel with and spaced above said lower conveyor belt;weighing means mounted on said frame adjacent said forward end of saidlower conveyor belt operative to weigh meat product placed on said lowerconveyor belt; meat product length and width measurement means mountedon said frame adjacent said lower conveyor belt, said meat product widthmeasurement means operative to incrementally read the width of the meatproduct and further operative to read the length of the meat product;said lower conveyor belt and said upper conveyor belt cooperating totransport the meat product through said exact weight meat cutting devicetowards said rearward end of said lower conveyor belt; computing meansin information transmission connection with said weighing means and saidmeat product length and width measurement means, said computing meansoperative to receive the weight of the meat product, the height betweensaid upper and lower conveyor belts, the incremental width readings fromsaid meat product length and width measurement means and the length ofthe meat product from said meat product length and width measurementmeans, and compute the volume of the meat product via calculation ofwidth times length times height for each incremental section of the meatproduct; said computing means further operative to determine the amountof meat product which will be cut from the meat product to produce aremainder piece and an exact weight piece, the exact weight piece of themeat product having a selected weight as predetermined by a user of saidexact weight meat cutting device; meat product slicing meansintermediate said forward and rearward ends of said lower conveyor belt,said meat product slicing means including position-adjustable blademeans, said position-adjustable blade means interposed between saidupper conveyor belt and said lower conveyor belt and operative toseparate the exact weight piece from the remainder piece of the meatproduct; said computing means operatively connected to said meat productslicing means to adjust the positioning of said position-adjustableblade means between said upper conveyor belt and said lower conveyorbelt to separate the exact weight piece from the remainder piece of themeat product as determined by said computing means; and said lowerconveyor belt and said upper conveyor belt further cooperating totransport the meat product through said exact weight meat cutting deviceinto contact with and past said adjustable blade means towards saidrearward end of said lower conveyor belt whereby the meat product issliced into the exact weight piece and the remainder piece.
 11. Theexact weight meat cutting device of claim 10 wherein said meat productlength and width measurement means comprises at least two displacementsensors mounted on said frame on opposite sides of said lower conveyorbelt, each of said at least two displacement sensors operative toincrementally read the distance between each of said at least twodisplacement sensors and an adjacent side of a meat product when themeat product on said lower conveyor belt passes between said at leasttwo displacement sensors.
 12. The exact weight meat cutting device ofclaim 10 further comprising a rear conveyor belt means mounted rearwardsof said lower conveyor belt and generally adjacent thereto such thatupon the remainder piece of the meat product being disengaged from saidlower conveyor belt, said rear conveyor belt is operative to engage andtransport the remainder piece of the meat product to another location.13. The exact weight meat cutting device of claim 10 wherein said meatproduct slicing means comprises a bandsaw and said blade means comprisesa bandsaw blade.
 14. The exact weight meat cutting device of claim 10wherein said weighing means comprises a scale mounted directlyunderneath said lower conveyor belt.
 15. The exact weight meat cuttingdevice of claim 11 wherein said at least two displacement sensors eachcomprise laser displacement sensors operative to identify the leadingedge of the meat product as it passes between said laser displacementsensors, incrementally read the distance from an adjacent side of themeat product to the adjacent one of said laser displacement sensors andpositioned on opposite sides of the main conveyor belt and identify thetrailing edge of the meat product as it passes between said laserdisplacement sensors whereby the length of the meat product can becalculated.
 16. The exact weight meat cutting device of claim 10 whereinsaid computing means comprises a computer having programmed softwareoperative to compute the volume of meat product to be cut to produce aremainder piece and an exact weight piece, the exact weight piece of themeat product having a selected weight as predetermined by a user of saidexact weight meat cutting device and the positioning of the adjustableblade means to obtain the cut.
 17. The exact weight meat cutting deviceof claim 10 further comprising a slice separator plate adjustablymounted on said frame interposed between said upper conveyor belt andsaid lower conveyor belt and positioned generally rearwardly adjacentand generally vertically movably aligned with said blade means, said topslice separator plate extending rearwards to maintain separation of theexact weight piece and the remainder piece of the meat product.
 18. Theexact weight meat cutting device of claim 17 wherein said sliceseparator plate comprises a generally thin planar sheet of substantiallylow friction material.
 19. The exact weight meat cutting device of claim18 wherein said slice separator plate is positioned rearwards of saidblade means between one-thousandth and one half (0.001 and 0.5) inches.20. An exact weight meat cutting device comprising: a frame; a lowerconveyor belt mounted on said frame and having a forward end and arearward end; an upper conveyor belt height-adjustably mounted on saidframe and extending generally parallel with and spaced above said lowerconveyor belt, said lower conveyor belt and said upper conveyor beltcooperating to transport the meat product through said exact weight meatcutting device towards said rearward end of said lower conveyor belt;weighing means mounted on said frame adjacent said forward end of saidlower conveyor belt operative to weigh meat product placed on said lowerconveyor belt; meat product length and width measurement means mountedon said frame adjacent said lower conveyor belt, said meat product widthmeasurement means operative to incrementally read the width of the meatproduct and further operative to read the length of the meat product;computing means in information transmission connection with saidweighing means and said meat product length and width measurement means,said computing means operative to receive the weight of the meatproduct, the height between said upper and lower conveyor belts, theincremental width readings from said meat product length and widthmeasurement means and the length of the meat product from said meatproduct length and width measurement means, and compute the volume ofthe meat product via calculation of width times length times height foreach incremental section of the meat product; said computing meansfurther operative to determine the amount of meat product which will becut from the meat product to produce a remainder piece and an exactweight piece, the exact weight piece of the meat product having aselected weight as predetermined by a user of said exact weight meatcutting device; meat product slicing means including position-adjustableblade means, said position-adjustable blade means interposed betweensaid upper conveyor belt and said lower conveyor belt and operative toseparate the exact weight piece from the remainder piece of the meatproduct; and said computing means operatively connected to said meatproduct slicing means to adjust the positioning of saidposition-adjustable blade means between said upper conveyor belt andsaid lower conveyor belt to separate the exact weight piece from theremainder piece of the meat product as determined by said computingmeans.